Hoothoot Line/GSC
Hoothoot is available in the following locations at night: Routes 1, 2, 5 (Crystal only), 25 (Crystal only), 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, and 37, National Park. Hoothoot is also available during the day in the following locations: Routes 26, 27, 32 (Crystal only), 34 (Crystal only), 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, Azalea Town, Ilex Forest, National Park, Lake of Rage (Headbutt trees). Noctowl is available in the following locations at night: Routes 2, 5 (Crystal only), 8, 11 (Crystal only), 13, 14, 15 (Crystal only), 25-27 (Crystal only), 37-39 (Crystal only) and 43. Out of the three early-game Normal/Flying types, Hoothoot is a freaking tank. Whereas Pidgey and Spearow have solid Attack and Speed, Hoothoot has decent HP and Special Defense. The only problem is that even if it can do a better job at tanking hits, it's not going to be doing nearly as much damage in return (or WITH Return, for that matter). Although using a defensive Pokémon is in general worse than using an offensive one (simply due to critical hits), Hoothoot is nonetheless the best defensive Flying-type you can use apart from legendaries. For one, our little owl gets access to the indispensable HM Fly, which immediate makes it infinitely better than Ledian and Butterfree. More importantly, Hoothoot gets access to two amazingly good support moves in Hypnosis and Reflect. Both these moves, in tandem with its great overall bulk, give Hoothoot a somewhat better chance to win against various boss battles than its cousins Pidgey and Spearow. Just so long as you don't recklessly switch Hoothoot in expecting to tank everything that anything throws at it, you have yourself a very decent support Flying-type. Important Matchups Johto * Gym #1 - Falkner (Violet City, Flying-type): The Pidgey shouldn't be too much trouble, but against the Pidgeotto, all you can really do at this point is spam Growl and switch to a teammate which can do decent damage. * Gym #2 - Bugsy (Azalea Town, Bug-type): You absolutely have to be at least level 16 by this point so that you can use Hypnosis on the Scyther. If it hits, you have a good chance of winning, but if it misses... well, you better hope Scyther doesn't get a Fury Cutter streak going. * Rival (Azalea Town): Hoothoot can actually solo this fight pretty easily if you picked Totodile. Just want out for Gastly's Curse. * Gym #3 - Whitney (Goldenrod City, Normal-type): Your best bet is to use Hypnosis first turn and hope you get lucky; just know that even a max attack Return from Noctowl is barely going to dent Miltank. * Rival (Burned Tower): You can solo this fight except for the Magnemite. * Gym #4 - Morty (Ecruteak City, Ghost-type): Noctowl's typing and bulk allow it to matchup very well against this gym. However, you will almost certainly have to switch out at least once due to the ghost mons' tendency to use Curse. Also, be wary of using Mud Slap, as that move can easily be Spited down to zero PP. Against the Gengar, it all boils down to whose Hypnosis will hit or miss. Definitely equip a Mint Berry if you have one. Worst-case scenario, Noctowl SHOULD be able to tank a Dream Eater without too many problems, but you really don't want to let it come down to that. * Eusine (Cianwood City, Crystal only): You can easily beat his Drowzee and Haunter, but you do not want to have to tank a STAB Thunder from Electrode. * Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): You can try setting up a Reflect, but you're just begging Primeape's Karate Chop to crit. The Poliwrath matchup is similar to the Gengar matchup: whose Hypnosis will hit? If you manage to PP stall its Dynamicpunches, you can win easily, but be very careful about crits and confusion hax and Hypnosis misses. They WILL happen. * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): You can theoretically Hypnosis the Steelix, set off a Reflect, and then switch to a strong offensive mon, but why not just use that strong offensive mon in the first place? * Rocket Executive battle #1 (Team Rocket HQ): Unfortunately, even a max happiness Return will most likely not OHKO the Koffing here, who will then Selfdestruct you to doom. Similarly, the Raticate will probably outspeed and deal a lot of damage with Hyper Fang. Tread lightly unless it's Zubat. * Rocket Executive battle #2 (Team Rocket HQ): A much easier fight. The Pokémon this Executive has don't have strong moves; Murkrow has Pursuit though, so be sure to not switch out in low health. Have Fly or Return handy and you'll win. * Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Provided you are in the mid-30s by this point, Noctowl definitely won't get OHKO'd by any non-crit move Pryce can throw at you. This gives you an opportunity to use Hypnosis at will and switch to a powerful offensive mon. But again, similar to Jasmine, why not just use that powerful offensive mon in the first place? * Rocket Executive battle #3 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Everything has Selfdestruct. Noctowl is a good tank, but Defense isn't its speciality. Use something else if you can. * Rival (Goldenrod Underground): His lead, Golbat, can be tricky with Confuse Ray + Wing Attack. Haunter can't touch you at all with the exception of Curse, which is always annoying. You can actually beat the Magnemite without too much trouble as long as you have Mud Slap. The Sneasel is easy since it doesn't have any Ice-type attacks (although even if it did, you'd still be alright). Any three of the rival's starter mons will be very easy to handle, too. * Rocket Executive battle #4 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): This is pretty much the same situation as the Team Rocket HQ. Just repeat what you did there: mostly spam Fly or Return, heal if necessary. * Rocket Executive battle #5 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Noctowl matches up very well with Admin's Houndoom. Noctowl should be able to avoid the 2HKO just fine and alternate between Hypnosis and Return when needed. Houndour and Koffing are easier, especially since this Koffing lacks Selfdestruct. * Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): Again, this is a situation in which Noctowl benefits from its special bulk. The first Dragonair is easy, but being Thunder Waved can be pretty annoying. The other two Dragonairs have Thunderbolt and Ice Beam, respectively, so you probably want to avoid those matchups. The Kingdra, however, isn't all that bad as long as you're not afraid to use a Hyper Potion whenever necessary. Just be wary that she probably will use Hyper Beam once you're in KO range. SmokeScreen is always annoying, but you can give her a taste of her own medicine with Mud Slap and Hypnosis. * Rival (Victory Road): Similar situation to the one before. Sneasel (his new lead) is super easy, as always. Golbat and Haunter are still annoying but beatable. The Magnemite has evolved, so stay away from that. Silver happened to take a page out of Blue's playbook and added a Kadabra, which Noctowl can easily feast on barring major Confusion hax from Psybeam. Finally, all three of the start mons can still be handled somewhat well by Noctowl, although poison and accuracy losses from Meganium's PoisonPowder and Typhlosion's SmokeScreen are never fun. * Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): You can probably avoid the 2HKO from the Xatus' Psychics barring hax, but the only significant damage you can do is max happiness Return. The Exeggutor you can handle just fine. The Slowbro is tanky as heck, so all you can do is Hypnosis it. The Jynx has Ice Punch, so avoid that matchup. * Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Noctowl's main purpose during this fight will be to use Hypnosis and get the heck out. The only exception is against his lead, Ariados, which you should be able to kill with Fly. However, even this is pretty risky, as you give Ariados ample opportunity to set up Double Team + Spider Web + Baton Pass and then before you know it, you have a dead owl. (In this gen, Baton Pass "passes" Spider Web's trapping ability in addition to the Evasion boosts.) * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): If you try to use Fly against Hitmontop, it will just use Detect, so this matchup will take an eternity for you to win. Similar situation with the Onix. Hitmonchan is really easy if you just spam Fly. Lee is a little more difficult due to Hi Jump Kick (albeit thankfully only an 85 BP move this gen) and Swagger, which WILL cause you to hit yourself in confusion. * Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): Umbreon is immensely bulky, so really the only thing you can do is Hypnosis it and switch to a strong offensive mon. The Vileplume and Murkrow are easy. Gengar can be dealt with, but please, watch out for Destiny Bond. You can handle her Houndoom similarly to how you handled that Rocket Admin's Houndoom: put it to sleep, spam Return, and Hyper Potion up when necessary. Rinse, repeat. * Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): First off all, every single one of his mons has Hyper Beam, which will do a significant amount of damage to our owl if not KO it outright. Thankfully, the AI pretty much never uses Hyper Beam first turn, giving you an opportunity to set up a Reflect and then use Hypnosis. Just be wary that all six of Lance's mons are pretty dang bulky, so Return won't do jack to any of them except for perhaps the Gyarados and Charizard. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Noctowl is entirely inadequate in this fight. Don't even attempt to put Brock's Pokémon to sleep, the low accuracy and their Rock moves are just not worth it. Let something else take them on instead. * Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): Alakazam is stronger than Kadabra and Gengar has replaced Haunter, but other than that, that's pretty much it. Noctowl, much like in Victory Road, only really needs to avoid Magneton, and while it may struggle against the starters, it can pull off a victory in a pinch. * Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): The main threats here for Noctowl's health are Lapras and Starmie, which have Ice coverage. Lapras is the most dangerous, due to STAB. However, Noctowl's bulk allows it to take Starmie's hits. If you manage to use Hypnosis on Misty's team, you can whittle down their health just fine. * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Noctowl may theoretically win this, due to the obvious level advantage, but it's still not wise to put a Flying-type with low Defense in an Electric gym where there are Pokémon that can explode. Use it only if you are entirely out of options. * Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Fly does well here. It helps that Erika's Pokémon are not particularly offensive-oriented, except Victreebel, but its strongest move is Acid. Noctowl will be fine. * Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): The low level of these Pokémon makes them easy to fight. Maybe use something else against the two Weezing, which can explode, but it's a safety measure you probably don't need. Noctowl can use its typical Hypnosis tricks here, and then whittle them down with Return. * Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Noctowl's bulk makes it absorb the nasty Psychics fantastically from all of these Pokémon, and Return will eventually take them down. Make sure you put them to sleep first, though; Psychic can lower Special Defense and eventually make the fight troublesome even for the owl. * Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): Avoid Magcargo. Its Attack is low, but Noctowl can't do much of anything to it. Likewise, Magmar has ThunderPunch. Rapidash is the least dangerous, and can be defeated with the usual technique. * Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): Pidgeot can wrestle with Noctowl, and Noctowl will probably win unless Hypnosis misses and Pidgeot resorts to Mirror Move. Arcanine and Gyarados, however, both have strong physical attacks that Noctowl should be wary of, even with Reflect as they can score critical hits, and Rhydon is absolutely frightening and not for Noctowl to fight. Exeggutor and Alakazam are safe, as Noctowl can absorb their hits well. * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): Crobat has evolved and become more annoying than before, but not much stronger. It will be more difficult to defeat, but that's it. Everything else works exactly as it did in the previous matchups. * Red (Mt. Silver): You win against Venusaur and MAYBE Espeon, but that's it. Charizard and Blastoise are stronger than Noctowl and can be Hypnotized at best, whereas Pikachu and Snorlax pack a punch and should be avoided altogether. Moves Hoothoot starts off with Tackle and Growl, the classic bread and butter. However, without TM investment, Tackle's going to be the bird's best STAB option for a long while. At level 6 Foresight is learnt, which is pretty much needed in order to hit decently Silver's and Morty's Gastly liners, else you have to rely on Peck, which comes at level 11, but will outdamage Tackle only when SuperEffective. Hypnosis is next, at level 16, and while it's a great move to rely on, it also comes with a not exceptional accuracy, but still worth the mention and the usage, especially for catching purposes. After evolution, Reflect is learnt at level 25, an excellent move for both support and as a way to strengthen Noctowl's low physical bulk. Take Down makes an appearance at level 33, but it's unlikely to find much use, due to the recoil damage and the fact Return far outclasses it. Then, at level 41, there's Confusion, a bit late, but still useful due to the late Johto-League segments, plus it fires off from Noctowl's stronger offensive stat. Lastly, there's Dream Eater at level 57, a strong Psychic move that also acts as a draining move, but it's reliant on the sleeping opponent, so it's up to you deciding if you want to keep try landing Hypnosis or take a safer approach. On the TM department, Swift, and later Return, are the best option for improving the Normal STAB, while the only Flying STAB option is Fly (still a big improvement over Peck). Mud Slap is worth a mention despite the low PP and damage, then there's Steel Wing in case Noctowl is somehow forced to face Rock- and Ice-Types. Thief is the only special move available via TM, unless Hidden Power rolls a good type and base power. In case of restrictions on healing items, Rest may be an option worth the moveslot, with Snore and Sleep Talk allowing to not waste turns sleeping away. Curse can patch up the bird's low physical stats at the cost of Speed, while Toxic can synergize well with its special bulk, especially when the availability of Protect, Detect and Endure is taken in consideration. Together with Dream Eater, another move that combos with a sleeping opponent is Nightmare, but they're not usually worth the slot. Other supporting options are Sunny Day, the risky Swagger, Attract (which works best on a female specimen) and Flash, with the latter also doubling as utility field move. Recommended moveset: Return, Reflect, Hypnosis/Confusion, Fly Recommended Teammates * Ground-Types: Ground types neuter and counter Noctowl's Electric weakness, while the owl itself can switch in to tank Grass- and even Water-Type moves. Do keep in mind, however, that aside a couple of Ground-Types, there will be a shared weakness to Ice-Types. A few examples are: Sandslash, Graveler/Golem, Quagsire, Rhydon, Gligar, Marowak. * Fighting- and Steel-Types: Both can help Noctowl deal with its weakness to Rock- and Ice-Types; in trade, Noctowl can use its special bulk to take in Psychic moves or abuse its Flying typing to neuter Ground moves. A few examples are: Steelix, Scizor, Magneton, Hitmonlee, Machoke/Machamp, Primeape. * Fast Sweepers: Noctowl lacks coverage moves and strong offensive stats as well, thus the presence of a fast sweeper in the team is appreciated, with the bird in return setting up Reflect or offering status support in the form of either Hypnosis or Toxic. A few examples are: Typhlosion, Alakazam, Starmie, Haunter/Gengar, Dragonite, Tyranitar. * Physical walls/Pokémon with a high physical bulk: While Noctowl has a nice special bulk, it's a bit lacking on the physical side, aside the use of Reflect or the contended Curse TM, which can both be bypassed by critical hits. Therefore, Noctowl appreciates Pokemon with a nice physical bulk, especially ones it doesn't share weaknesses with. A few examples are: Meganium, Slowbro, Forretress, Sudowoodo, Donphan, Pinsir. Other Hoothoot's stats Noctowl's stats * At what point in the game should I be evolved? You absolutely want to have a Noctowl by the time you face Whitney. She's just too good. * How good is the Hoothoot line in a Nuzlocke? Hoothoot is a wall, which is pretty rare for both a Normal and a Flying-type. It has access to Fly, Hypnosis and Reflect, all of which are amazing support moves in their own way. The defensive utility that Hoothoot brings to the table is completely nonexistent in Pidgey or Spearow. Granted, its offensive presence leaves a lot to be desired (Noctowl's Attack is even lower than that of Spearow), but who cares about offense when you can slowly sleep your opponents to death? * Weaknesses: Electric, Ice, Rock * Resistances: Bug, Grass * Immunities: Ground, Ghost * Neutralities: Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Steel, Fire, Water, Psychic, Dragon, Dark Category:Gold/Silver/Crystal Category:Flying-Type Category:Normal-Type Category:Johto